Hmmm, Had it been my game and my set-up then 45.Qxf8+ would have been closer to instantaneous. But coming in cold, it takes a few seconds to recognize the mating position and then check the board out to see if it works. When I posted that I wondered if ten seconds was too much time for seeing such a slam dunk, but after reading your post I got out my stopwatch and ten seconds seems about right.

Because it was so cut and dried, I also wondered if this was a blitz game since it went all the way to the mate.

sakredkow: First noticed Black checkmates next move, so whatever white does it has to disrupt that. Then it was easy to find the checkmate after seeing the only forcing move is Qxf8+. It was very fast to solve but I'm not sure better players have to go through a "process" or if they just see something like this instantly.

Peligroso Patzer: The move played by Black (44. … Qe3) immediately before today’s given puzzle position is an interesting choice.

It is tempting to assume any move that allows a short (here, 2 moves) mating combination in reply is a blunder, and it seems Black could have prolonged his agony (i.e., postponed mate for a number of moves) with 44. … Qd6. Nevertheless, it is understandable that GM Mista did not relish the prospect of suffering through the endgame resulting from 45. Qxd6 Bxd6.

So, he presumably thought (in the true spirit of the would-be swindler), why not play 44. … Qe3?/!? and give White the opportunity to play a genuine and catastrophic blinder with 45. Rc8???

(No one ever garnered a point - or half a point - by resigning, but swindles do occasionally succeed.)

Penguincw: Missed another Monday puzzle. So I decided to look into the tactics archive. I struggled at first, probably because I was looking at the Sunday puzzle.

So I decided to look at the Monday puzzle. 1/1 this week. Let's see how I do on the Tuesday puzzle, on Tuesday.

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